The Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf announced that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, issued an order to start the process of a major expansion of the Mosque of Prophet Mohammad ‘’Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi’’ in El- Medina.
This expansion will provide a great service for the visitors of the Mosque of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be Upon Him).
The order of expansion is considered an extension of his commitment and efforts in serving Islam and Muslims around the world. The king’s most recent great effort was the implementation of the largest expansion in the history of the Grand Mosque ‘’Al-Masjid Al-Haram ‘’ in Mecca.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf explained that the order of the King to expand Al-Haram will be implemented on three different phases. The first phase will allow the Mosque to accommodate around more 800 thousand worshipers; in the second and the third phase the expansion will include the eastern and western sides of the Mosque to accommodate an additional 800 thousand worshipers. This makes a total accommodation of more 1.6 Million worshipers.
He added that the expansion comes in addition to other projects ordered by the Custodian in order to make it easier for pilgrims and Umrah performers and visitors to the Mosque of the Messenger (peace be upon him), including the current expansion of Al-Masjid Al-Haram and the Jamarat Bridge and the train of the Two Holy Mosques, the Gate of Mecca “The International Airport of King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah.”
Moving to what the international officials said about this order of expansion, we would find that Dr. Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf countries was among the first to show his pleasure with such an order, he supported the implementation of the enlargement in the Holy Mosque. He also considered this order a clear proof and evidence of the great care from the King in servicing the pilgrims and Umrah pilgrims, visitors and worshipers.
Also the president of the affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, the efforts of Saudi Arabia’s King, following the issuance of his command to expand the Prophet’s Mosque, saying, this initiative is a solution for the crowd, which is a great issue in both Holy Mosques.
On the practical side, Engineer Farouk Elias a city planner and developer said that the expansion ordered by King Abdullah will be sufficient on the medium-term and according to the current circumstances we will not need to have any other expansion for over 20 years at least.
Finally, according to the latest consensus, the number of the visitors to El-Medina is the same as for Mecca, which are almost about ten million visitor per year, while the capacity of the Prophet Mosque – in its current state – is almost 650 thousand worshipers, while in Mecca the capacity is more than a million and a quarter of a million worshipers.
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